Sometimes It’s Best to Ignore What Symon Says

My husband and I are fans of Michael Symon. We cheer for him when he’s competing on Iron Chef America. We will watch his shows when they come on. We ate at his restaurant The B Spot in Cleveland. The food was very good there, particularly the chili cheese fries.

For Christmas, one of Jimmy’s gifts was a Michael Symon cookbook. Since one of my New Year’s resolutions is to try a new recipe every week, Jimmy chose one from his new cookbook. For now, I’ll just say it was an excellent choice, and I’ll write more about it later. What I want to talk about today is the list of items included in the cookbook. Michael Symon developed a list of five items to never buy.

The first item on the list was boneless, skinless chicken breasts. He says the chicken without the bone has no flavor. He believes that the breast is the most flavorless part of the chicken. I beg to differ. I don’t like dark meat, and while I grew up eating chicken legs and wings, those are not my favorites today. If possible, I avoid them. I buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts. The only exception is when I buy chicken for dumplings. In that case, I still only use breast meat, but I will buy it with the bone and skin because it does make the dumplings taste better. In all other cases, however, boneless and skinless is what I use. And I must say that I’ve never had an issue with the meat being dry or flavorless. If I fry the chicken, I roll the chicken in a dry mixture of flour or bread crumbs, then in buttermilk, then another dry mixture of flour or bread crumbs, and then I fry it slowly. I used to try to cook foods quickly and finally figured out that it would taste better if it were cooked slowly. My fried chicken, if I do say so myself (and if you doubt me, ask my boys or my husband) is quite good, tender and moist, and packed with flavor. Regardless of how I fix the chicken, it has lots of flavor, and we like it. Therefore, I will continue to buy boneless, skinless chicken breasts to use in my recipes, except for dumplings.

Another item on his list of never-buy items was the product I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter. Actually, he goes further and says that the only thing to buy is real butter; we should avoid margarine and anything else that isn’t true butter as well. I can go along with him on this one, though I’m not a stickler on the issue. I don’t use the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter product, but I do sometimes use Blue Bonnet vegetable spread, or whatever it’s technically called. I do have recipes, though, where real butter is the ingredient of choice. In most cases, though, I just interchange the Blue Bonnet and the butter. If I could buy butter for the same price I buy Blue Bonnet, we’d be using butter all the time.

Michael Symon also suggests never buying cuts of filet mignon. Again, he says it’s a flavor issue, and that we should instead buy fatty ribeye steaks. If you’ve read some of my previous blogs about food, you know that neither Jimmy nor I are fans of fatty products. I have to thoroughly trim all fat from chicken, pork, or beef. Neither of us likes the taste of gristle. And there’s not much worse than biting into a piece of meat and getting a mouthful of gristle. Personally, cuts of filet have plenty of taste. Perhaps Michael Symon hasn’t had a filet from Malone’s restaurant. Their filet is the most tender melt-in-your-mouth meat you could ever have. It also has flavor. I don’t often get to buy this cut for use at home, simply because it is rather expensive. If I could afford it every time I bought beef, though, I would get it often. When I do treat us to this meat, I again cook it slowly and it is filled with flavor.  So once again, I have to disagree with Michael Symon.

Another item on the never-buy list is lean turkey bacon. Michael Symon says that there is no substitute for bacon, and I’ll have to agree with him 100% on this one. I’ve tried the turkey bacon, and I just don’t like it as well. My kids don’t like it as well. Jimmy doesn’t like it as well. My brother cooks with it all the time, and he and his family like it, and that’s fine. For some folks, it works. I’m just not one of those people. I can eat turkey bacon, but given the choice, I’d rather have real bacon. As far as I’m concerned, every dish can be improved by adding a little bacon.

The final ingredient Michael Symon says not to buy is minced, peeled garlic. Again, his reason is flavor. The pre-peeled and minced garlic lacks the flavor of the garlic you would peel and mince yourself. He even questions if we are really so lazy that we have to buy this product. Well, yes, I guess I am. I buy it because it’s easy. I open the jar and add spoonfuls to whatever it needs to be added to. It takes me about two seconds, which is a lot less time and mess than peeling and mincing it myself. As for the flavor issue, again, I think the flavor is fine. Whenever I take the lid off the jar, I certainly get a big whiff of the garlic smell, which leads to taste. Once again, sorry, but I’ll just keep buying this product.

Even though I’m not a professional chef, I can think of several items that should never be bought. However, I’d be willing to bet that Michael Symon wouldn’t approve of my never-buy list any more than I approve of his. I may not be a professional chef and my palate may be much less sophisticated than the professionals, but I still think I’m a pretty good cook, and I know my husband is a great cook. The point is when you get a new cookbook or you find online tips about buying and cooking foods, keep in mind that everybody is different, and what might be right for one won’t be for someone else. Just have fun with the food you cook so you can enjoy your creations.

It’s Hummus vs. Hubris on Next Iron Chef

As you already know, my husband and I are huge Food Network fans. We have particular hosts we love to watch, including Giada de Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Anne Burrell, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Michael Symon, Guy Fieri, the Neeleys, and Robert Irvine, just to name a few. We also enjoy the competition shows, such as Next Food Network Star, Chopped, and Next Iron Chef. So, when this season of Next Iron Chef was being promoted, we anxiously awaitedthe  October 30 premiere of the Super Chefs. Of course, we had our favorite picked out the moment we saw the lineup. We’re for Anne Burrell all the way.

Ideally, I would’ve liked to see it come down to Anne Burrell and Robert Irvine in the final episode, with Anne winning. I like Robert Irvine, but I like Anne better, and I do enjoy watching her beat him, as she did on Worst Cooks in America and Chopped. I was hoping for showdown number 3, with Anne coming out on top again. Last week, when Chef Spike chose to put Anne and Robert together for a team, it was quite funny, especially for those of us who know their history. It was with great relief that we learned that they were not the bottom team and did not have to face off against each other in the premiere episode. There was hope that they still might get the chance to fight it out in the finale.

That hope died tonight when Robert Irvine was eliminated from the competition. I was speechless. Robert manages to complete Dinner: Impossible and Restaurant: Impossible challenges all the time. Robert is very well respected among the chefs employed by the Food Network. How can it be that it is episode 2, and Robert is gone? For what it’s worth, which isn’t really much since he was eliminated, the decision wasn’t unanimous. At least one of the judges wanted Robert to stay. And I’m going to guess that more viewers would have liked for Robert to stay than for Chef Michael Chiarello to stay.

Robert Irvine is such a popular chef, it was startling not just to viewers but also to the other Super Chefs that he was eliminated so early. And as Alton Brown pointed out, because his hummus was too thick. Personally, I thought Chef Chiarello’s attitude was too thick. Of course, since this is Super Chefs, there are going to be some Super Egos to contend with, and while the viewers get to see all the comments the chefs make after their food has been evaluated, I’m guessing that the judges don’t get to see all those comments. And that’s probably a good thing since if I were one of the judges and I heard one of the competitors dissing how I judged, I’d be more likely to eliminate them.

Tonight’s episode was a huge wake-up call to fans and chefs alike. If a chef like Robert can be eliminated so quickly, anybody can. As for this fan, though, I still have a preferred order for elimination, which simply calls for all the chefs I’m not really familiar with or that I just don’t like as well to go first. The next ones I’d like to see go are Michael Chiarello (didn’t like his attitude), Elizabeth Faulkner (just don’t really know anything about her), and Chuck Hughes (don’t really know anything about him). After that, Geoffrey Zakarian, Marcus Samuelsson, and Beau MacMillan would be the next three to go, leaving Anne Burrell and Alex Guarnaschelli to compete for the final spot. Since I can’t have Anne and Robert in the finale, then let’s have Anne and Alex and add a female Super Chef to the prestigious Iron Chef crew.

Of course after tonight, it’s hard to speculate about who will win this competition, but it’s certainly going to be interesting to watch, and it’s not going to be an easy task for the competitors. But since it is Next Iron Chef, it shouldn’t be easy for them. One thing I’m wondering, though. When this is over, will those who serve as Chopped judges be any more sympathetic to those competitors than they were before? That may be as interesting to watch as these episodes are.

Mary Beth’s Luck Runs Out Tonight

For the past two weeks, my husband and I both predicted Mary Beth would be the one to leave The Next Food Network Star. Both weeks, we were wrong. At this point, I’m wondering if we should apologize to Jyll and Whitney. We didn’t think either of them would be in the final three either, but perhaps by predicting Mary Beth’s exit, we jinxed them. If so, sorry about that. Surely, though, this will be Mary Beth’s week to leave the show.

It’s nothing personal against Mary Beth; she seems like a nice enough lady, but we would not watch a show hosted by her. To us, she just doesn’t have the energy, creativity, or personality of Guy Fieri, Giada De Laurentiis, Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Michael Symon, Robert Irvine, Anne Burrell, or Bobby Flay.

Jeff, Vic, and Susie are making food that is much more visually appealing and creative, and according to the judges, food that just tastes better than Mary Beth’s. For that reason, we are hoping not to jinx either of them by predicting one more time that Mary Beth will be the contestant eliminated on tonight’s show.

When we decided to try our hand at determining who would be the next to leave the show, we both had Vic and Susie in the top two; Jimmy had said that Vic would be victorious, while I chose Susie. However, after watching the last two episodes, I’m starting to think Jeff just might have a shot at this. Fortunately for him, he has recovered from the “Balls on a Roll” fiasco. Since then, he’s the one who’s been on a roll, winning camera challenges and cooking challenges. He has become more sure of himself while Vic and Susie have floundered.

At this point, I still believe that Jeff, Vic, and Susie will be the final three, and Mary Beth will be eliminated tonight. Depending on how things play out in tonight’s episode, I may have to revise my final prediction, though. If Jeff performs like he has on the last two episodes, Vic and Susie will have their work cut out for them. And the more I think about it, a guy who can be charming and funny and has a show all about sandwiches might be a lot of fun to watch.